Your people need clarity? Sharpen your leadership lens
In today’s complex business environment, leaders are expected to bring clarity, confidence and conviction to their decision-making and communication. But how do you ensure that your leadership approach is not only effective, but also authentic and future-ready?
Take time to sharpen your Leadership Lens.
It starts with sharpening your leadership lens: the unique perspective you hold, shaped by your values, experiences and strategic focus.
Your leadership lens influences how you interpret challenges, guide teams and communicate your vision. When clearly defined and well-articulated, it becomes a powerful tool for building trust, aligning culture and driving change. Yet many leaders haven’t taken the time to reflect on what has shaped their lens — and how to use it intentionally.
Sharpening your lens means asking the right questions. What has consistently motivated you throughout your career? What values show up in your leadership style? What global or cross-industry experiences have influenced your approach? These reflections help you uncover the stories and philosophies that underpin your leadership — and communicate them with clarity.
Align your team’s Leadership Lens.
Importantly, this isn’t just an individual exercise. Working with your leadership team to explore and align your collective leadership lens can be a powerful way to strengthen team cohesion and strategic direction. Through facilitated exercises such as experience sharing, leadership value mapping, and “lens alignment” workshopping – where each leader reflects on their own lens and then co-creates a team narrative – you can build a unified perspective that guides culture, decision-making and external messaging. These exercises help surface common values, clarify strategic priorities and build trust across the team.
This is hard. Where do I start?
To begin, ask yourself:
- What do I want my leadership legacy to be?
- What story best illustrates my leadership philosophy?
- What impact do I aim to have through my leadership today?
These questions aren’t just for personal reflection — they’re the foundation for how you show up, influence culture and build reputational value. And that’s what human-centred, strategic leadership is all about!
I’m sharing a sample of this work with readers – send us a message if you’d like to try a starter exercise to sharpen your leadership lens, or learn more about our short strategy session for boards and leadership teams – Julissa
